The secretary of state has questioned whether the Soviet Union can play a bigger role in that region because of its human rights record and its lack of relations with Israel.

On nuclear arms, Gorbachev said "there is still a chance" of an agreement to reduce by half U.S. and Soviet long-range nuclear weapons by the spring. The idea would be to have the pact ready for him and President Reagan to sign at a Moscow summit.

Gorbachev and Reagan signed an agreement in Washington Dec. 8 to eliminate their intermediate-range missiles, which have a range of about 300 to 3000 miles. The current negotiations in Geneva concern those with a range above 3000 miles.

The Geneva talks have been held up because of disagreements over the future of Reagan's "Star Wars" antimissile program and how to verify any new arms treaty.

Shultz said the negotiators would have until his meeting in Washington with. Shevardnadze to put together three draft documents dealing with verification procedures, ways to eliminate or convert the weapons and methods to help inspectors observe treaty compliance.

On Sunday, Shultz quizzed Andrei D. Sakharov about human rights, arms control and Soviet reforms and met with a group of Jewish refuseniks to underscore U.S. concern for human rights in the Soviet Union.

Sakharov, who won the 1975 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to protect human rights, met with reporters after seeing Shultz.

Sakharov said the Soviet Union has not yet made enough progress to merit holding an international human rights conference.